Softball

ALYX BLOOM IS FIRST BLUE DRAGON SOFTBALL PLAYER DRAFTED TO PRO LEAGUE

Jun 07, 2018

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

At the beginning of Alyx Bloom's collegiate career, she was a basketball player. Now as her five years of eligibility have concluded, the former two-sport Hutchinson Community College athlete will be a professional softball player.

On Wednesday night, Bloom was selected in the inaugural American Softball Association (ASBA) player draft, which took place in Mobile, Alabama. She was picked in the 14th round with the 54th overall pick by the E Pro 1 Ballers.

A native of Clay Center, Kansas, Bloom becomes the first Blue Dragon softball player to be drafted into a professional league.

Bloom played on a pair of NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball national runner-up teams for head coach John Ontjes and the Blue Dragons in 2014 and 2015. After the 2015 Blue Dragon women's basketball season was complete, Bloom joined head coach Jaime Rose and the Blue Dragon softball team.

After Hutchinson, Bloom continued her basketball career by playing in 2016 and 2017 at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. With her basketball eligibility gone, Bloom, by her own admission, had a "crazy idea" to use the fifth year of eligibility allotted to college athletes in another sport. She chose to play softball at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

With the Roos this past season, Bloom played in 55 games and hit .277 (38 for 137), the fifth-leading hitter on the team. She had eight doubles, two triples and three home runs with eight RBIs and 21 runs scored. Bloom was a catcher for most of the 2018 season.

All that after not playing softball for two years.

In her abbreviated season with the Blue Dragon softball team in 2015, Bloom played in 24 games, starting in 21 either at second base or left field. She hit .271 (16 for 59) with one double, one homer, nine RBIs and 15 run scores. She also stole five bases.

Bloom was a back-up player in her freshman season with the Blue Dragon women's basketball team in 2014. She played in 27 games and averages 2.3 points per game while shooting 35.3 percent from the field. She was a starter on the 2015 team that also advances to the national championship game. In the 2014-15 season Bloom averaged 7.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.5 rebounds per game. She hit 32 3-pointers and set a single-season Blue Dragon record with her 88.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

The ASBA is a four-team league starting for the 2018 season. The first games of the new league will be on June 15.